Pips gets daily

Pips joined the New York Times Games catalog in August 2025. It turns domino-style tiles into a solo daily puzzle habit.

“Pips puts a unique spin on dominoes”

Hints beat reveals

The game can reveal the full puzzle, but that wipes out the solve. These answers are broken into pieces so you can recover without giving up the board.

Dominoes, with rules

Tiles can sit vertically or horizontally and touch like dominoes. The twist is that touching sides do not always need to match.

“The touching tiles don't necessarily have to match.”

Colors set conditions

Colored spaces tell you what the tile halves inside them must do. A number means the pips in that space add to that value, even if only half a tile sits there.

Know the labels

Equal means all halves match, Not Equal means each half differs, and Less Than or Greater Than sets a limit. Blank spaces have no extra condition.

“If an area does not have any color coding, it means there are no conditions”

Easy starts clean

The easy grid uses Greater Than 4, Less Than 4, Equal 4, Less Than 1, Equal 3, and Less Than 6. Key placements include 1-6 vertical, 4-4 horizontal, and 3-5 horizontal.

Medium repeats ones

Medium leans on Equal 1 and Equal 5 regions. The listed placements include 6-1 vertical, 1-5 horizontal, 5-5 horizontal, 4-4 horizontal, and 0-1 vertical.

Hard stacks sums

Hard is mostly number totals, from 2 up to 15, plus a Not Equal region. Shared tiles like 4-2, 5-6, 1-6, and 4-4 carry several constraints at once.